VCU Provost Finalist Stephen Gottfredson Meets with Faculty, Staff, Students

By Michael Ford
University News Services

Virginia Commonwealth University’s interim provost made the case for his permanent appointment as chief academic officer by highlighting changes and initiatives he implemented as dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences that yielded new schools and increased research funding.

Stephen D. Gottfredson, Ph.D., interim provost and vice president for academic affairs at VCU, said that in the seven years he led the College of Humanities and Sciences – the university’s largest academic unit – programs were transformed and sponsored research quadrupled.

He pointed to efforts to make strong investments in the faculty, particularly in the sciences, and the positive impact on research. In 1997, research funding among departments in the college was at $6 million. Today, that figure has quadrupled to $25 million in sponsored research.

He recounted the genesis of the undergraduate forensic science program in 2002, borne of a strong graduate program in forensic science and the need to develop fresh academic options that would attract new students from Virginia and from other states. After three years, the undergraduate forensic science program has 475 students enrolled and ranks 7th in choice of majors at VCU, with a large percentage of those students coming from out of state.

Gottfredson called VCU an agile institution that moved quickly to bring together the Center for Public Policy, existing faculty and departments to form the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. He initiated the transition in February 2003 and completed the implementation three months later. At the same time, he handled a similar request from other faculty units with similar dispatch and the result was the VCU School of World Studies, also organized and approved by May 2003.

Gottfredson said VCU’s student diversity is one of its strengths, but added that he would like to improve student retention and graduation rates. One solution would be intensive student advising, he said. Advisers should reach out to students to avoid problems with education and career goals or curriculum requirements. He also said he would support using graduate students as student advisors. Gottfredson further advocated the program VCU Works, which directs money to academic units to hire undergraduate students to work in those departments. Students who work at an institution are retained at a higher rate than those who do not, he said.

Gottfredson, who has served as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs since July 2004, outlined what he considers to be the primary roles of a university provost. He said the provost must be able to articulate the vision of the university, and then provide leadership to work with faculty and the administration to make the vision a reality. He also said the provost’s job is to provide balance to competing interests.

Gottfredson was dean of the College of Humanities and Sciences at VCU from July 1997 to June 2004. Gottfredson previously was associate dean for academic affairs in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, where he was a professor and chair of university-wide faculty of criminal justice, laws and public safety. He also was professor and chair of criminal justice at Temple University and held academic positions at Johns Hopkins University and Towson State University. Gottfredson received his doctoral and master’s degrees in psychology from Johns Hopkins University and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon.

Gottfredson was the final candidate in a field of four administrators vying to become the next provost and vice president for academic affairs at VCU. Peter E. Crouch, Ph.D., dean of the Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University, met with VCU faculty and staff on March 30; Lester P. Monts, Ph.D., senior vice provost for academic affairs and senior counselor to the president for the arts, diversity and undergraduate affairs at the University of Michigan, met with the VCU community on April 1; and Susan Herbst, Ph.D., dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Temple University held meetings on campus on April 4.

For more information on VCU’s provost search, visit http://www.vcu.edu/provostsearch/index.html.